Law and regulation

The System Risk Council, which will be advised by Paul Volcker, will provide outside commentary on the progress of overhauling the regulatory system.

Here's a systemic risk bankers and regulators prefer not to discuss: Banks so big they get away with chronically unethical and illegal behavior.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is giving the participants in its "small business" review panel five additional days to offer comments on the agency's mortgage banking compensation proposals.

A federal judge dismissed Bank of America's lawsuit against units of Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas, a win for the two foreign banks in their $1.75 billion dispute over losses suffered when a subsidiary of disgraced mortgage lender Taylor Bean & Whitaker collapsed.

The banking industry's image is about as awful as it's ever been. But what needs to be done by whom, and at what cost, to fix it? Editor at Large Barb Rehm has some ideas.

On Wednesday, Occupy the SEC will be marching in Manhattan from JPMorgan Chase's downtown office to the SEC, calling for the agency to investigate Jamie Dimon himself for possible violation of the disclosure requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Comptroller Thomas Curry will tell Congress on Wednesday that the agency is trying to determine whether JPMorgan Chase told examiners enough. It is looking into what the agency could have done differently.

BNC Bancorp has no immediate plans to exit the program, despite recently raising $73 million from a private placement. CEO Swope Montgomery believes BNC's acquisitions will more than offset the current 5% borrowing rate for the Tarp funds.

Fannie Mae named its general counsel, Timothy Mayopoulos, as its next chief executive after he agreed to a sharp pay cut imposed by the mortgage-finance company's federal regulator.

Joseph Smith, who is responsible for monitoring the 49-state mortgage servicing settlement, plans to spread the work among multiple consulting firms.

In April the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a statement that it was adopting the "disparate impact" concept in its enforcement of the anti-discrimination provisions of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. It is doing so in a manner consistent with an Interagency Policy Statement issued in 1994 by the Department of Justice and other federal agencies involved with the enforcement of fair lending laws.

When a California bank took a former employee to court over his insulting statements on the Internet, an appellate court said his speech was protected from prosecution.

Recent delays by the CFPB and Treasury point toward a systemic policy malaise that threatens to make the housing recovery a decade-long event.

CresCom Bank in South Carolina filed a debt collection lawsuit against Myrtle Beach, S.C. automobile dealer Lavin Sales Inc. and co-owners, John and Howie Lavin, claiming the men and the business defaulted on two loans totaling more than $3.1 million.

As head of the Mortgage Bankers Association, David H. Stevens spent the last year warning that excessive and ill-considered regulation could drag down the mortgage market. As the new head of SunTrust Mortgage, he'll have to face that regulation head-on.

The Treasury Department announced Tuesday that it plans to sell off its shares in seven more community banks as part of its ongoing effort to wind down the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

More than 30 state trade associations have joined the Independent Community Bankers of America in urging Congress to extend the Transaction Account Guarantee program, which offers banks unlimited deposit insurance on transaction accounts.

J.P. Morgan Securities could pay up to $44.6 million for allegedly manipulating municipal bond contracts in a proposed settlement the JPMorgan Chase (JPM) unit reached with municipal bond issuers.

On the same day the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced a board meeting next week to discuss Basel III capital rules, agency officials Tuesday said most community banks are already in solid position to comply with new requirements.

An effort is gaining momentum to require banks that want municipal business to lend more in low-income neighborhoods. And it's not just mega-banks being targeted — smaller banks are seen as fairing worse in this type of lending.